Bait and switch? Chrysler tries to pass off Seattle for Detroit

There’s nothing more annoying than seeing Vancouver or some other city falsely portraying Seattle on TV and in the movies. But now the tables have turned.

It seems the folks at Chrysler – or at least their ad agency – is pulling a fast one, trying to pass off the Emerald City for Detroit.

A new commercial for the Chrysler 200 shows a sleek sports car speeding through what is clearly the I-90 tunnel and along the Alaska Way Viaduct.

The spot, narrated in German with English subtitles, touts “superior engineering” and “unrivaled performance,” a car “worthy of the Autobahn.”

“Wait a minute. That’s not the Autobahn. That’s Detroit!” the announcer proclaims, as the spot cuts to a big highway sign showing the offramp to Detroit.

Just one problem. It’s several thousand miles from the Motor City.

“It certainly looks like Seattle, doesn’t it?” laughs Amy Lillard, Executive Director for Washington Filmworks.

The organization is the nonprofit champion of the state film and television industry, overseeing all the efforts to bring production to the state including managing incentive programs and providing support for productions.

The Chrysler commercial is far from an anomaly. The state is actually a hotbed for car commercials, drawing on average, over one dozen national productions per year, Lillard says.

“It’s great when you can be in a major metropolitan city and get your gear, and stay in great hotels and just go outside the city limits and find those amazing locations,” she says of the diverse scenery and long summer days across the state that have proven extremely popular with car makers and their agencies alike.

Even though the Seattle area is only on screen for less than 15 seconds in the Chrysler spot, it’s big business. Most commercials will shoot for several days, hiring dozens of local crew members in the process.

“They are commonly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says Lillard.

So should we be offended when Seattle is passed off as another city?

“I will double as Detroit any day as long as they are willing to pay,” says Lillard.